A native of Siddapura, Uttara Kannada District, Karnataka, Dr. Shrihari Chandraghatgi bags the award
Bengaluru, October 12, 2018: Indian Agricultural Microbiologist Dr. Shrihari Chandraghatgi – President & CEO, EcoCycle Corporation, has been conferred with “Outstanding award for Courageous Executive” by Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI), Japan. At a glittering function held at Tokyo on October 11, 2018, Dr. Shrihari received a silver citation, a trophy and half a million Japanese yen in cash.
“Courageous Executive” is arguably the highest recognition in the Japanese corporate circle. This award recognizes a corporate leader for taking exceptionally challenging risk while making business decisions, over-coming highest business barriers and defying the common sense of the market by introducing unique management ideas ultimately reflecting the management skill and business decision makings on not only the growth of the company but also contribution to the society as whole.
This year Presidents and CEOs from 148 companies were screened for the award by the selection panel comprising of 12 panelists from industries, media houses and academicians. Some of the prominent members of the panel were Mr. Uesaka, President, Fuji Sankei, media group; Dr. Itami, Vice Chancellor, International University; Mr. Ito, Director, Honda Motors and Mr. Shimomura, Special counselor, Mitsubishi Electric. The panel took over 6 months to meticulously screen potential candidates in 4 different stages and finally selected the award winner.
Giving the award at the ceremony held in Tokyo on October 11, Mr. Ito, Vice Chairman, TCCI and Executive Director, Honda Motors, said, “Small and Medium size industries are driving powers of Japanese economy and are back bone of larger industries. However, they face unique challenges in overcoming market challenges. It is a wonderful opportunity for TCCI to recognize leaders of such industries who took exceptional managerial decisions to overcome the challenges and grow the companies. Today it is quite special to recognize an Indian for this award. Given decline in population, may be it is time we should look at India for skilled workers and managerial manpower to keep Japan growing for next 30 years”
Accepting the award, Dr. Shrihari, said, “I am honored to receive this award and wish to thank all employees of EcoCycle Corporation for making this happen. We have been conceptualizing & executing innovative solutions that has addressed contemporary problems in environmental sector. I am sure awards like this will enthuse us to work more aggressively and take our solutions to emerging economies which are in dire need of effective technologies to handle their man-made environment crisis.”
About Dr. Shrihari Chandraghatgi:
Dr. Shrihari, a PhD in agricultural Microbiology from University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad and a Post Doctoral fellow at Chiba University, Japan, joined EcoCycle Corporation, Japan, a start-up venture in 2000 when the revenue was literally zero. He applied his knowledge in soil microbiology and invented methods of degrading toxic environmental chemicals with naturally available microflora which at that time was considered impractical among the environmental experts and business leaders in Japan. He overcame all odds in the market and showed that this technology was not only very effective but also ultra-low cost as compared to the conventional technologies prevailing those days. In 2006 when the company amassed debt and fell into red, he took the challenge of leading the company from front as President and CEO and rebuilt it to the current status.
EcoCycle corporation has grown since then and grabbed environmental remediation market not only in Japan but globally across several countries. Further, he effectively brought interdisciplinary knowledge from Geotechnology, hydrogeology and soil microbiology to develop bioremediation into a new level of technology capable of taking challenges of persistent environmental pollutants. For developing cutting edge groundwater cleaning technologies and applying in cleaning over 500 highly contaminated industrial sites across the globe, Dr. Shrihari in 2017 was awarded with Japanese Ministry of Environment Award, the highest honor in environment science in Japan.